Normally, the Lincoln Street creek crossing at Miller Valley is where the illegals gather daily to wait for job offers. But not yesterday. Those much publicized SoCal storms made it here Saturday night. By Sunday afternoon, the creeks that come together at Lincoln were roaring mountain streams.
Not really that deep, but a stream like this runs very fast and can sweep a car downstream before you know it. There have been at least two drivers drowned trying to cross the creek right here, during the time I've lived in Prescott.
Sson drove us up the White Spar to the Granite Creek crossing at Schoolhouse Gulch campground. Plenty of water here!
And here is the Park Avenue bridge across Aspen Creek, normally a trickle. More rain and possibly snow is promised for later this week. We should have a n absolutely gorgeous display of wild flowers down in the desert this February-March -- the rains have been almost perfect. Springtime in the mountains should be beautiful as well. Of course, there's also the much greater importance of this break in our long drought. BTW, 2007-8 were supposed to be La Nina years, i.e., very dry.
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15 comments:
Delighted to see genuine water from the sky coursing down the criks. Any erosion on your hillside??
Hermano
Catching up after missing a few posts (so many blogs to keep up with!) - still excellent posts, even though you've had a cold.
I know you can use the water.
Wow! That's a lot of water at Schoolhouse Gulch.
Great pictures. My friends in California said they had a little erosion on the steep hill behind their house but very little.
bro -- always a little erosion, but you should see the crik emerging from beneath the house! That contractor did a great job of drainage, thank goodness.
stitch -- good to see you here again. The cold is receding a little bit everyday, thank goodness.
steve -- always -- we can always use the water. And then some.
QD -- oh yes, it was indeed impressive. We had a steady downpour for over 12 hours.
Cat-A -- I'm just glad there was water left over after the storms did SoCal
The desert in bloom ranks pretty high on my list of favorite vistas.
I also read that this was a La Nina year, but that it meant moisture for the Southwest extending up to the San Juans of SW Colorado with drier than average conditions to the north. Here in the Far North we are having a milder winter than normal but with more snowfall than in recent years (albeit snow of low water content). Perfect for acclimating us newcomers!
Wild wet stuff! Glad colds and computers are on the up.
JC -- As a rule, the Southwest is much drier in a La Nina year and much wetter in an El Nino. Believe me, we were predicted to have a warm dry winter.
Lucy -- I love those wild running creeks. Recently, we've had enough snow at higher elevations that there's been water in all our seasonal creeks. BTW, in Arizona, the term creek is used for a watercourse that runs water in at least one season on a regular basis. Wash, dry wash or arroyo mean that any running water occurs quite seldom and on an irregular basis. River is used like creek except for larger watercourses.
You are correct about La Nina; my source and/or I must have gotten it mixed up.
BTW, I've heard that a crik is a creek that runs through a cow pasture. ;)
It is amazing how things grow after rain.
Reminded me of the flooded creeks & rivers in Queensland. Some foolish 'adults'- in their 20s, one a female- were in drain doing graffiti, on the concrete, & were swept away in the raging torrent that came down- one was drowned & 2 made it out of the water.
Awesome photos...I was driving to and from Phoenix on Sunday and was just amazed at the HUGE amounts of water running through the washes...
JC -- I don't know about the derivation of the word crik, but that's sure how they pronounce it down south...
meggie -- don't know what you call them in the southern hemisphere, but in these parts, the term is flash floods and they can be nasty. A foot of water moving at down-the-mountains speeds can carry a car off or turn 'er over...
cb -- I can imagine what it might have been like over on the other side of the ridge.
Weather can kill you! Whether you freeze to death up here or drown or get whacked by debris in a really big wind. Nature is amazing.
juliar -- red in claw, etc! A truth quite forgotten by some soft-in-the-head enviros. Mostly city-dwellers, I suspect, and couldn't have cared less until it became fashionable in their set.
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